I went to Suzhou for a trip two days ago. The scenery was fantastic, especially those gardens, absolutely unique Chinese style. It was all good until I found myself hopeless in the toilet of one of the gardens, I was running out of paper and this is a traditional Chinese toilet, you know, little holes…anyway, I had to call the lady next to my hole and borrow her paper, with my awkward Chinese!

China is rapidly modernizing in every possible way. Luckily for westerners, in big cities like Shanghai and Beijing, you will rarely if ever see an old eastern style toilet. If you venture away from the modern areas, however, be aware that you may have to use an eastern toilet. The trains still only have eastern style toilets as well. Even some McDonald’s in smaller cities still use eastern toilets. It is also a good idea to always carry paper with you and a nose plug.